Sarta ( ar, سرطّه) is a

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

town located in the

Salfit Governorate Salfit governorate ( ar, محافظة سلفيت) is one of 16 Governorates of the Palestinian National Authority. It is located in the northwestern West Bank, held under Israeli occupation, bordered by the governorates of Ramallah and al-Bir ...

in the northern

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

, 22 kilometers southwest of Nablus. According to the

Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS; ar, الجهاز المركزي للإحصاء الفلسطيني) is the official statistical institution of the State of Palestine. Its main task is to provide credible statistical figures a ...

, it had a population of approximately 3,382 in 2017.2007 PCBS Census

. p. 112.

Location

Sarta is bordered by Haris to the east, Bruqin to the south, Biddya to the west, and

Qarawat Bani Hassan Qarawat Bani Hassan ( ar, قراوة بني حسان) is a Palestinian town in the Salfit Governorate of the State of Palestine, located thirty kilometers southwest of Nablus and 8 kilometers northwest of Salfit in the northern West Bank. Accordi ...

to the north.

History

Sarta is situated on an ancient site, where

cistern A cistern (Middle English ', from Latin ', from ', "box", from Greek ', "basket") is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by ...

s and

columbarium A columbarium (; pl. columbaria) is a structure for the reverential and usually public storage of funerary urns, holding cremated remains of the deceased. The term can also mean the nesting boxes of pigeons. The term comes from the Latin "''col ...

s carved into rock have been found. Sherds from

Iron Age II The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly app ...

and Persian eras have been found, but were possibly washed down from a nearby higher Tell.Finkelstein et al, 1998, pp. 273-274 Sherds from

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...

/Early

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...

and Crusader/

Ayyubid The Ayyubid dynasty ( ar, الأيوبيون '; ) was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni Muslim of Kurdish origin, Saladin ...

occupations can be suggested according to the finds of sherds at Sarta, and according to finds at the site of the nearby sheikh

tomb A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called ''immuremen ...

. Yakut mentions "Suratah", as being in "a village in Jabal Nabulus". It has been suggested that this was Sarta.

Ottoman era

The village was incorporated into the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

in 1517 with all of Palestine, and in 1596 it appeared in the tax registers as being in the ''

nahiya A nāḥiyah ( ar, , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level division w ...

'' of Jabal Qubal in the ''

liwa Liwa may refer to: Places ; Chad *Liwa (sub-prefecture) in Mamdi Department ; Indonesia *Liwa, Indonesia ; Oman * Liwa, Oman, place in Oman, area around Sohar University *Liwa Province, Oman (wilayah) ; Poland *Liwa, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeshi ...

'' of Nablus. It had a population of 6 households, all Muslim. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 33,3 % on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, goats and beehives; a total of 1,500 akçe. In 1838 it was noted as a village ''Serata'', part of the ''Jurat Merda'' district, south of Nablus. French explorer

Victor Guérin Victor Guérin (15 September 1821 – 21 Septembe 1890) was a French intellectual, explorer and amateur archaeologist. He published books describing the geography, archeology and history of the areas he explored, which included Greece, Asia Min ...

travelled through the village in 1870, and found it to have around 40 houses, some better built than in the average village. The stones of the houses were alternately red and white. Several ancient

s dug into the rock provided water for the residents. In 1882, the Palestine Exploration Fund's "Survey of Western Palestine" described Serta as a small stone village.

British Mandate era

In the

1922 census of Palestine The 1922 census of Palestine was the first census carried out by the authorities of the British Mandate of Palestine, on 23 October 1922. The reported population was 757,182, including the military and persons of foreign nationality. The divis ...

conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Sarta had a population of 275 Muslims and 1

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

,Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Nablus, p.
26
/ref> increasing in the 1931 census to 317, all Muslim, in a total of 76 houses. In the 1945 statistics the population was 420, all Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p
19
/ref> while the total land area was 5,584 dunams, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 1,858 were used for plantations and irrigable land, 766 for cereals, while 23 dunams were classified as built-up areas. File:Biddya 1941.jpg, Sarta 1941 1:20,000 File:Biddya 1945.jpg, Sarta 1945 1:250,000

Jordanian era

In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the

1949 Armistice Agreements The 1949 Armistice Agreements were signed between Israel and Egypt,Jordanian rule The Jordanian annexation of the West Bank formally occurred on 24 April 1950, after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, during which Transjordan occupied territory that had previously been part of Mandatory PalestineRaphael Israeli, Jerusalem divi ...

. In 1961, the population was 740.

Post-1967

Since the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states (primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, S ...

in 1967, Sarta has been under

Israeli occupation Israeli-occupied territories are the lands that were captured and occupied by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967. While the term is currently applied to the Palestinian territories and the Golan Heights, it has also been used to refer ...

. After the 1995 accords, 16.8 % of the village land is defined as

Area B The Palestinian enclaves are areas in the West Bank designated for Palestinians under a variety of U.S. and Israeli-led proposals to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The enclaves are often compared to the nominally self-governing black ...

, while the remainder 83.2 % is Area C.

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

has confiscated 353 dunams of village land for the establishment of the Israeli settlement of Barkan.Sarta Village Profile (including ‘Izbat Abu Adam Locality)
ARIJ, p. 18

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 14
IAAWikimedia commons

Sarta Village (including ‘Izbat Abu Adam Locality) (Fact Sheet)

Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem The Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem (ARIJ; ar, معهد الابحاث التطبيقية - القدس) is a Palestinian NGO founded in 1990 with its main office in Bethlehem in the West Bank. ARIJ is actively working on research proje ...

(ARIJ)
Sarta Village Profile (including ‘Izbat Abu Adam Locality)
ARIJ
Sarta aerial photo
ARIJ
Development Priorities and Needs in Sarta
ARIJ
Sarta Village Profile Land Confiscation, Tree Burning and Uprooting Campaigns against the Village of Sarta
23 September, 2004, POICA
Israeli Occupation Forces Embark on the Expansion of Burkan Industrial Compound
3 September 2008, POICA
Palestinian land bulldozed for colonial expansion in Sarta village
08, July, 2009, POICA
Extension of Take Over lands in Bruqin, Sarta, and Haris villages
02, January, 2012, POICA
A new Israeli military order to grant more security for the settlement of Barqan
25 February, 2012, POICA
Barkan colony map
{{Salfit Governorate Towns in Salfit Governorate Salfit Governorate Municipalities of the State of Palestine